90 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



to tlie silken, bell shajjed tent within which the spider nested, and at the 

 other end to the fence top against which the tent was placed. (Fig. 67.) 

 In this way the motlier had her future progeny literally "cradled," and in 

 good j)osition also to be freely " rocked." What freak had caused her to 

 make this divergence we can only conjecture; probably the cocoon had 

 first been sjaun upon the leaf, which, becoming loose, and threatening to 

 fall, was secured in the manner described. 



A familiar resort of Triaranea in New England is the stone wall, char- 

 acteristic of that section. Underneath the irregular slabs or boulders of 

 granite which are heaped, one upon the other, to form the divi- 



Stone gJQ,^ fences between meadows, etc., I have found large numbers 



JPenc6 • 



_, J of this species. The orb, which is usually about six inches in 



diameter, is woven within the intersjiaccs of the rocks, and tlie 

 spider has her resting place against the rough surface, or within the little in- 

 dentations of the stone which 

 ~^'' forms the top of the cavity. 

 Against this surface the moth- 

 er Triaranea weaves her bowl 

 shaped tent, and against the 

 same surface, an inch or two 

 away, she spins her cocoon. 

 This is about a quarter or 

 three-eighths of an inch in 

 diameter; is a hemispherical 

 disk of flossy white silk, which 

 is overspun by a stiff, taut, 

 close, but transparent tent of 

 white silk about three-fourths 

 of an inch long. This may 

 be considered the tyjjical co- 

 coon of the species. 



Tlie number of eggs in 

 three cocoons counted was, 

 respectively, forty-five, forty- 

 two, and thirty-two. They 

 were of a gray color. Little spiders had just developed in one, and these 

 had yellowish abdomens, round, and very slightly oval, with the legs white. 

 The egg skin had just been cast, and the little fellows were stretching them- 

 selves and straggling about in a feeble manner. 



One female was resting within a circular depression underneath a rock, 

 and had spun a few silken lines, forming the foundations of a little circular 

 tent, the framework of which extended downward toward her snare. Within 

 this was an old empty cocoon, against which the spider rested. Near by 

 was a fresh cocoon, nearly one-fourth inch in diameter, overspun by a 



Leaf enclosed cocoon of Bpeira triaranea, swung 

 to her silken nest and above her snare. 



